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The science of willpower: Kelly McGonigal on why it’s so dang hard to stick to a resolution

A lot of what is discussed in this article on willpower and the ability to reach goals which we set are absolutely true. I learned many of these lessons, and continue to learn them, on my own transformation journey. If there is one thing to take away from this, let it be that we shouldn’t fight our emotions, our cravings. We shouldn’t beat ourselves up for having them. Rather we should acknowledge that they are present within us, then allow ourselves to make a better, more conscious choice from that place.

By the second week of January, that resolution that once seemed so reasonable — go to the gym every other day, read a book a week, only drink alcohol on weekends — is starting to seem very … hard. As you are teetering on the edge of abandoning it all together, Kelly McGonigal is here to help. This Stanford University psychologist — who shared last year how you can make stress your friend — wants you to know that you’re not having a hard time sticking to a resolution because you are a terrible person. Perhaps you’ve just formulated the wrong resolution.

McGonigal has, for years, taught a course called “The Science of Willpower” through Stanford’s Continuing Studies program and, in 2011, she spun it into a book, The Willpower Instinct. The TED Blog spoke to McGonigal this week about how willpower is often misunderstood, and what we each can do…